


Making Something Together

by SnakeWrangler4



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23335675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnakeWrangler4/pseuds/SnakeWrangler4
Summary: Lancer, Ralsei, Susie, and Kris find themselves in a friendly competition, each of their quirks on full display. Someone else is there, too, probably, I think?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Making Something Together

**Author's Note:**

> So this was actually a piece I did for the Light and Dark Deltarune Zine a while ago, and it turned out to be a scam and I didn't know until it was too late!! Wuh oh!!!!! but it's ok because I'm here to throw up this kinda rough work before I get obsessed editing it. I'm alright with it I'm just glad I remembered I had it.

Susie wiped sweat from her brow as she worriedly peered into the oven. “Come on, come on…” she whispered, increasingly impatient, to a tin of muffins as they stood baking. 

“SUSIE!!”

The purple reptilian nearly jumped through the ceiling from surprise. “GAH!” Composing herself, Susie turned to find Lancer wearing his usual goofy smile. “Lancer, what do you want? I’m trying to focus here!” she half-snarled.

Unphased by Susie’s fierce display, Lancer continued, “I just wanted to see how your baking was going! I think mine’s almost done!!” A small trail of smoke began to stream out of the oven behind the rotund boy, as if to confirm his assertion. Lancer sniffed the air and grinned even wider. “Yep! That smells done!”

He waddled over to his own oven and hopped up to pull the door down, smoke billowing out and completely obscured the scene. As Susie looked on with growing concern (and gratitude that Card Castle seemed to lack smoke alarms), she asked, “What DID you make anyway, Lancer?”

Behind the impromptu smokescreen, Lancer donned a pair of spade-embroidered oven mitts (with matching booties!) and climbed onto the open door with a “Hup!”. He carefully leaned forward, gingerly grasping his creation to pull it out from the oven.

Coughing and trying to wave away the smoke from her face, Susie strained her eyes to see what all was going on behind the cloud of smoke. Finally, a shape began to form before her; Lancer soon emerged, clearly immensely proud of his work. Beaming, he held out his creation and announced: “Ta-dah! It’s Stump Salsa, everyone’s favorite! It’s the only recipe I really know, but that’s OK, because who doesn’t like Stump Salsa?” Lancer’s tongue hung out to complete his trademark grin.

Susie stood dumbstruck at the sight of the spade gremlin presenting a gnarled, old stump, nearly as big as he was, and full of chunky red salsa. Mouth agape, she stared at the stump, then Lancer, then the oven, then back at the stump, cycling through them in quick succession. “Wha… But… How…?”

Lancer remained unphased by Susie’s reaction. “Wanna try some? Just get a lil’ scoop! It’s good, I promise!” To accentuate his point, Lancer produced a plastic bag full of wriggling pink worms, “FOR LANCER” written on it in bold letters. He carefully picked a worm out, dipped it in the salsa, and slurped up the whole thing in one go. “DELICIOUS! Who knew I could even be this good at cooking?? Susie, you have to try some! Go ahead - use your finger, I won’t tell anyone!”

Still suspecting that she was in shock, Susie eyed the wooden vat of salsa. She was unsure how much she trusted Lancer’s concoction, but she hardly wanted to hurt his feelings by refusing to try it. Gingerly, she stuck a finger in at the edge of the stump’s basin and pulled up a smear of salsa. Before committing to tasting it, Susie felt compelled to ask, “Lancer, how did you even get that stump in OR out of the oven? It looks bigger than the door.”

Setting the stump on the floor, Lancer put a hand to his chin to ponder the constraints imposed by the inescapable binding that physics has on reality. Or maybe he just thought about candy. Either way, he snapped his fingers as if he had an epiphany. Proudly, Lancer proclaimed, “I HAVE NO IDEA!!!”

Susie just shook her head and decided to give up any further line of questioning. She relented and licked the salsa sample off her finger. It indeed tasted, honestly a bit surprising to Susie, just like a typical tomato salsa. But that was perfectly fine. Lancer put his heart into it. “...Tastes great, Lancer. Good job.”

Hearing the compliment, Lancer’s expression lit up bright enough to light an ocean trench. His enthusiasm was almost overwhelming. “Really? You think so? Thanks, Susie! I can’t wait to share this with everyone else! I’m sure yours will be great too! I’m so excited!”

Caught off-guard by Lancer’s encouragement, Susie looked aside in an attempt to hide her fluster. “...Anytime. And thanks. I sure hope -” She was cut off by a loud beeping coming from her own oven. The muffins were ready!

Susie bounded over to the oven and hurriedly lowered the door before the muffins could burn. Donning a pair of oversized oven mitts, Susie delicately extracted the tin of muffins, exercising more caution than expected from a fighter that brandishes a giant axe. She carefully set the tin on the stovetop, removed the oven mitts, and reached for the finishing touch to her treat: a fine dusting of chalk powder on top. Satisfied, Susie arranged the muffins on a large plate and stepped back, taking a moment to admire her handiwork. “Heh. Not half bad,” she chuckled to herself. “Can’t wait to see Ralsei’s face when he learns he’s not the only one that can bake these days!”

Susie and Lancer turned to face each other, completed creations in hand, and nodded in approval at their mutual success. The duo carried their respective treats over to a large spade-shaped table, high-fiving in celebration once the muffins and stump were set down, Lancer requiring a small stool to actually reach the top of the table.

“Great job, Susie! I’m sure we’ll win this baking competition. What a great and fun idea you had to hold this! Thanks a bunch!!” Lancer’s tongue flopped out in his excitement, making Susie quickly edge the muffins away to avoid any unwelcome stray droplets.

Susie scratched the back of her head as she looked to the side, suddenly sheepish. “Well, honestly, it was more of Ralsei’s idea to do something like this together… I just thought it’d be fun to turn it competitive. He deserves more thanks for the idea, not me.” She shook her head and looked back at Lancer. “We ought to thank you as well - you let us use your huge kitchen here at the castle, after all.”

If Lancer’s goofy grin could get any wider, it was liable to fall off his face. “Golly, you really think so? I’m glad you like it, because I just wanted to help out all my great friends!!”

Coincidentally, when Lancer said this, Susie’s eyes began to sting a little, to the point of watering a tiny bit. She told herself it was unrelated, at any rate, with absolutely no connection whatsoever to how Lancer’s words touched her. “Great friends… Yeah…” she managed through a subtly growing smile.

Lancer, oblivious, went on to think aloud. “I wonder if all the others are -”

As if on queue, the door to an adjacent kitchen swung open. The ever-fluffy Ralsei strolled out, holding a tray with a modest cake, as well as a smile pure enough to melt the coldest of hearts. He was followed closely by Kris, who curiously seemed to be empty-handed, their ever-enigmatic expression betraying no emotions.

Ralsei was the first to speak upon arriving. “Susie! Lancer! Glad to see you’ve completed your treats as well!” He eyed over the muffins and Stump Salsa. “These look really great! I’m sure they’re delicious!” he exclaimed, his smile only getting wider. “You’re certainly no slouches when it comes to baking, it seems.” 

Setting his own cake on the table, Ralsei motioned for Kris to place their own confectionary creation as well. Kris obliged by wordlessly reaching into their pocket and retrieving a sizeable clump of damp, verdant moss. Put on the table, it looked undeniably out of place next to the already ragtag assortment of muffins, a cake, and a stump full of salsa. At least it looked like enough moss for everyone to share, but no one was really sure how much qualified as “enough” in this scenario.

Words failed Susie once more. The Stump Salsa was one thing, sure, but moss? From an oven? How -

Her minor inner crisis was halted as she made eye contact with Ralsei. He shook his head, doing his best to convey, “No, it isn’t worth questioning, trust me.” Susie then looked over at Kris, who gave her a thumbs up with the usual blank expression. With a squint, she noticed some moss hanging from the corner of Kris’ mouth. At that point, Susie shrugged and decided another line of questions was a less fulfilling use of her time than enjoying all the treats her companions had prepared.

Looking quite pleased at the sight of the baked goods laid out on the table, Ralsei spoke up. “Gosh, everyone’s treats look so good! I -” He cut himself off as realization hit him. “Wait. Aren’t we missing someone…?”

With that question, the group of friends heard a caterwaul from another nearby room. Into the kitchen burst the dazzling Rouxls Kaard, looking much less dazzling than usual as he sputtered with tears running down his face. “Alack, alay!” he proclaimed in a pained wail, “Mine perfect creation doth hath been ruinedest! A blight uponeth mine self, for assuredly thus failing to impresseth Lancer and his companions!” 

The other four were at a loss for words. Lancer, however, quickly recovered and waddled over to Rouxls. “Great to see you, Lesser Dad! What happened??”

Rouxls Kaard sniffed and attempted to wipe his eyes, then laid on the floor and pretended to faint for good dramatic measure. “Woeth is me, Lancer, for a tragedy hath befallen mine culinary attempts…” He produced a singular piece of slightly-burnt toast from his coat and held it in the air for all to behold, in what was most assuredly great pity for this tragic occurrence. “Yonder toastereth… I thoughteth for surest it hath been set to only ‘6’...” Rouxls gasped, clutching his other hand to his chest as he waved the singed slice of bread above him. “To mine owneth dismay, it actually had been set to ‘7’! Thus bestowingeth unto me this horridest, most incincerated piece of toast…” Mustering up his best attempt at puppy dog eyes, Rouxls Kaard looked up at Lancer, who had listened to all this wearing his usual goofy demeanor. “If thou haveth in thyself… Please, doth forgivest me for this insult to thine culinary contest…!”

Lancer pondered this sob story for all of 3 seconds before taking the piece of toast and eating it whole. “Mmmm! Tastes fine to me! Thanks for the snack, Lesser Dad, you really are the best!” he said as he returned to his spot by the spade-shaped table. Rouxls shed a single, final tear of gratitude at Lancer’s overwhelmingly magnanimous clemency, then proceeded to stand up, brush himself off, and slink back into his own kitchen while vowing to “Right what he hath wrongethed.” That situation more or less resolved, the friend group returned their attention to what they all had baked. 

“Well, Susie?” began Ralsei. “Whose do you think is going to be the best?” Ralsei, Kris, and Lancer all looked at her expectantly.

“Oh, er…” Susie started to wonder why she rashly asked to turn a fun baking day into a competition. “They… They all look good!” she answered, both out of honesty and a desire to not be forced to choose. “I think, uh, everyone did a great job today, and, uh…” She trailed off, flustered and unsure how to continue.

She was met with a good-natured laugh from Ralsei. “Hahaha! I think we all agree on that, Susie." Kris and Lancer both nodded enthusiastically to affirm Ralsei’s point. “I certainly had a lot of fun! I’m glad we were all able to come together and bake today. I say we’re all winners.” Ralsei put his hands together and turned to Lancer. “And thank you, Lancer, for letting us use your facilities!”

Lancer grinned widely, his tongue falling out again. If the goober had any visible eyes they would surely be shining brightly. “Any time!! Sharing things like this makes me happy. Susie even thanked me for it already!”

A light blush formed on Ralsei’s face, close to the color of his scarf. “Well, no harm in hearing it again at least, right?” he chuckled, thumbing the edge of his shirt in mild embarrassment.

Susie felt her own cheeks begin to turn red at Lancer’s always-earnest gratitude. Before she could get too embarrassed, however, another sudden noise arose — a loud growl that everyone soon realized came from Lancer’s stomach. The room briefly fell silent, but just as quickly erupted into uproarious laughter. 

Ralsei spoke up as the laughter faded. “I guess we’ve been talking for too long, huh? I say we dig in! It’s only fair since we all worked so hard.”

Not a single disagreement was heard. In a flash, muffins, cake, salsa, and even moss were all being devoured with reckless abandon, a well-earned reward for a day of hard work. Amidst the confectionary flurry, Susie found herself smiling. Turning this sort of thing into a competition was a silly idea in hindsight. Watching everyone enjoy her muffins, and getting to eat food that the others made… Just making and sharing something together. 

Ralsei was right. Everyone was a winner today. Even Rouxls Kaard in his own, melodramatic way.


End file.
